“Dorothy West, ‘the Kid,’ was an extraordinary writer, activist, and creative mind. While West had no children of her own, she left her bigger-than-life presence sprinkled all over the people close to her and, of course, her beloved Island, Martha’s Vineyard.” So opens 16-year-old Zoe Alphonse’s extraordinary film, “Ms. West,” a documentary about the great author and her time on Martha’s Vineyard.
Alphonse has been summering here since she was nine or 10: “It’s a really special place for me. I associate it with calm and nature, which is really different from the city living I have in Chicago.”
Alphonse was already familiar with West when she started working at the M.V. Museum at 15, when an exhibition about the author was on display: “That name has always been floating around my household. My parents are really big on classic literature. When I was younger, they told me about her books and impact during the Harlem Renaissance.”
The show sparked Alphonse’s desire to put her filmmaking experience to work. “There was all this memorabilia. and interviews with different people who were significant in her life. I was fascinated by how strong her impact was on such a tiny place. Especially given how many different ways she was impacting people.”
With the support of the museum staff, Alphonse threw herself into creating the documentary. The film briefly introduces West’s early life — growing up in Boston, living in New York, traveling and living in Russia, and later landing on the Vineyard to take care of older family members.
Alphonse’s incisive interviews tease out different aspects of this renowned icon within the context of the community. West’s cousin, Abigail McGrath, tells us that she was a cashier at a local restaurant: “Nobody knew that this woman giving you change was a literary genius.”
In addition to her books, including her most famous novel, “The Wedding,” set in Martha’s Vineyard, West wrote a regular Oak Bluffs column, “Cottagers’ Corner,” for the Vineyard Gazette. Close family friend Olive Tomlinson recalls, “She tended not to complain about the ongoing discrimination.” West would write about important things people were doing and what was going on at the local churches, parks, and libraries. Previously, the column had been about who held parties, and what people wore.
West’s goddaughter, Blythe Coleman, says, “She was about character and personality. Her thought process, I think, helps us continue and carry on today to look at people for their character, their integrity, their personality.”
Alphonse says, “Ms. West wrote something like there are heroes in all communities, but it’s not necessarily who you think. Things aren’t always in black and white, and there are gray areas. I think she was an incredible person, but she had complexities.”
For instance, McGrath recalls, “No matter what I did, it was never quite enough. I couldn’t come up to her expectations. At the same time, she was very proud of me. She’d say, ‘This is Abigail. She’s dark, but she’s smart.’ It shows you how the thinking of the time often related to what you looked like.”
Alphonse came to her project with some experience, having taken an introductory filmmaking course at New York University, and making shorts in the filmmaking club she started at school. But “Ms. West” is her first solo documentary.
She began with lots of research. “I pulled up all the articles and talked to people at the museum. After I felt like I got a good idea of what history books had to say about her, I started reading her literature. Then I moved on to live interviews.”
Alphonse found her editor, Jack Russ, through Columbia College in Chicago. Being critical of her voice, Alphonse did a casting call on voices.com for a narrator, selecting the very effective Taylor Denby. She also went through hundreds of songs on the website Epidemic Sound to assemble an effective soundtrack: “‘The music needed to reflect the mood … some parts needed to be sad, others uplifting, exciting, and full of energy.’”
Working at the museum again this summer, Alphonse had a public screening, to great success: “The presentation was absolutely amazing. I was so lucky to have the opportunity. People were like, ‘You’re the filmmaker? I thought it would be someone older!’ People were asking questions, and I got to answer from my perspective. I’d spent a lot of time reading other people’s perspectives. So it was full circle for me.”
Toward the film’s end, Coleman says about West, “She wanted to be known as someone who did life her way. She did it with passion. She did it with character and grit and kindness. She was small, but she was feisty.” And McGrath reflects, “Dorothy West was absolutely fearless, and she should be applauded for that.”
Alphonse hopes people come away feeling empowered to be who they are. She notes, “Ms. West was definitely one of the most brave people working against the odds, and what was socially allowed. She was doing the opposite with grace and a strong, clear voice. I would imagine that it made people feel braver to speak up about things they see in their communities. She really embodied fearlessness.”
Another important message for Alphonse is that you never know who is within your community. “I think everybody has an important story to tell. You just never know until you ask.”
Thus, she ends the film powerfully with Dorothy West’s words: “There is no life that does not contribute to history. All voices matter, and there is nothing wrong with getting into some good trouble.”
View “Ms. West” at bit.ly/YT_AlphonseDoc or bit.ly/V_MsWestDoc.
Congrats, Zoe! 🎉
It’s wonderful to see your work come to life.
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